Skip to main content

Tourists' taxi tale of terror

A group of French tourists found that their recent trip to New York set their pulses racing a little more than they had expected. The tourists boarded a vehicle outside the Air France terminal at New York's JFK airport, unaware that this was an unlicensed cab.
March 1, 2012 Read time: 1 min
A group of French tourists found that their recent trip to New York set their pulses racing a little more than they had expected. The tourists boarded a vehicle outside the Air France terminal at New York's JFK airport, unaware that this was an unlicensed cab. As police attempted to stop the vehicle, it sped off with the tourists onboard. The police then followed in hot pursuit while the terrified tourists made repeated pleas to be let out. The van hit speeds of 100km/h as it raced along crowded residential streets, ran red lights and stop signs in an attempt to outrun the police. When the van finally crashed, the police were able to apprehend the driver and the vehicle's 'tout', while one of the tourists was slightly hurt by the crash. The driver and the tout face serious charges and possible prison sentences of up to seven years.

Related Content

  • Young motorcycle riders at most risk in Europe
    January 20, 2017
    Young powered two wheelers are most at risk of crashing. That is the key finding of a recent report into powered two wheeler crashes in Europe. The analysis of 9,186 crashes where a motorcyclist was severely injured, shows that specifically young, male riders face a significant risk to become a road traffic victim. The European Commission recently published the ‘Study on serious road traffic injuries in the EU’ to collate data that could in the future prevent serious road traffic injuries. The aim was to
  • Major advances in asphalt paving technology
    February 9, 2012
    Using the latest paving technology has allowed contractors to carry out difficult projects Contractors in Germany and Italy have been able to carry out very difficult asphalt paving applications, using the latest machines from Vögele and Volvo Construction Equipment respectively. In both instances these projects benefited greatly from the use of the latest generation equipment and it is debatable as to whether such high quality results could have been achieved with older machines.
  • Employee driver safety service
    May 4, 2012
    Safety amongst company vehicle drivers is under the spotlight in the UK following a series of serious accidents. Research undertaken by the UK's Department of Transport into unlicensed driving has found that the time spent by unlicensed drivers on the road is a significant menace to road users. Companies have a Duty of Care to check employee's driver's licences at least every 12 months under the Health and Safety Act.
  • Parking problems
    March 21, 2012
    An Italian woman ended up parking her car on the roof of a house when she accidentally forgot to use its handbrake. The woman had stopped to photograph a scenic view but as she stood to one side and adjusted the settings on her camera, the car rolled from the road, through a barrier, down a hillside and onto a house below.